Dapr vs Hexagon: What are the differences?

Introduction

Dapr and Hexagon are two popular technologies used in application development. They have several key differences that set them apart.

1. Architecture approach: Dapr is a technology that focuses on building applications with a microservices architecture. It provides a runtime and a set of building blocks to simplify the development of distributed applications. On the other hand, Hexagon is an architectural pattern that promotes building hexagonal architectures, also known as ports and adapters, which emphasize clean separation between business logic and external dependencies.

2. Language support: Dapr is designed to work with multiple programming languages and frameworks, allowing developers to choose the language that best fits their needs. It provides SDKs and language-specific libraries for popular languages like C#, Java, Python, and Node.js. Hexagon, on the other hand, is a pattern that can be implemented in any programming language, making it a language-agnostic approach.

3. Runtime environment: Dapr runs as a sidecar alongside the application, providing a set of services that can be accessed through APIs. It can be deployed on any infrastructure, including Kubernetes, VMs, and even local development machines. In contrast, Hexagon does not provide a specific runtime environment. It is a pattern that can be implemented within any application and executed within the chosen runtime environment.

4. Integration capabilities: Dapr provides a wide range of building blocks that simplify integration with external services and systems. It supports features like messaging, state management, service discovery, and event-driven workflows. Hexagon, on the other hand, does not provide specific integration capabilities. It focuses more on architectural principles and guidelines for isolating business logic from external dependencies.

5. Community and ecosystem: Dapr is backed by a large community and has a growing ecosystem of contributors and third-party libraries. It has gained popularity and support from major cloud providers like Microsoft, AWS, and Google. Hexagon, although less popular and with a smaller community, still has its own community of developers and resources available for learning and implementation.

6. Level of abstraction: Dapr abstracts away many of the complexities of distributed systems, providing developers with higher-level building blocks and APIs for common tasks. It aims to simplify the development of distributed applications by handling concerns like service discovery, state management, and event-driven communication. Hexagon, on the other hand, focuses more on architectural principles and guidelines, leaving the implementation details and abstractions up to the developer.

In summary, Dapr and Hexagon differ in their approach to application development. Dapr focuses on building microservices with a runtime and building blocks, while Hexagon promotes the hexagonal architecture pattern for clean separation between business logic and external dependencies. Dapr provides language support, integration capabilities, and a larger community, while Hexagon is language-agnostic and focuses more on architectural principles. Both technologies have their own strengths and can be used depending on the specific needs of the project.